Boston Seaport gets another restaurant invasion

Barth Anderson was among an early wave of new food entrepreneurs in the Seaport District when he opened Barrington Coffee Roasting Company last year, gambling that as the economy slowly improved the nascent neighborhood would eventually turn into a full-blown community with an active social scene.

But even hes surprised at the speed with which the Seaport is filling in. In the next few months, another wave of restaurants and entertainment options is scheduled to open in the Seaport District, seemingly racing the developers who are rushing to fill in the areas empty lots with office buildings and residential towers.

In an otherwise relatively tame world of development, this area feels like its on fire, Anderson said. Its forging ahead against all norms.

The latest influx involves some of the biggest names in Bostons food scene, from celebrity chef Ming Tsai to veteran restaurateurs Seth Greenberg and Tom Kershaw, with options that range from neighborhood tavern, to French bistro, to gourmet grocer.

Im very bullish on the whole area, said Greenberg, the owner of Mistral who plans to open a French eatery in a former textile factory on Melcher Street next spring. It has huge potential for cool restaurants, retail, and loft apartments.

After several fitful starts, building activity in the Seaport District is taking off, with blocks of office towers and hundreds of residential units under construction, or soon to be. Many of the existing eateries in the neighborhood are among the most popular in the city, with Temazcal and the other restaurants at the new Liberty Wharf complex, in particular, regularly jammed.

Next door, Kershaw, owner of Cheers, 75 Chestnut, and the Hampshire House, just opened 75 on Liberty Wharf in a 1,500-square-foot glass kiosk on Boston Harbor, where diners can sip cosmopolitans and feast on pumpkin ravioli as boats bob in the distance.

Far from a business risk, Kershaw said opening the new restaurant seemed like a slam dunk, and I think it probably will be.

Kershaw noted that business at his Beacon Hill and Faneuil Hall restaurants is still very flat, while activity across the Seaport is running counter to the economy.

Developer Young Park envisioned this kind of boom back in 2004, when his company, Berkeley Investments Inc., began buying up buildings in the Fort Point area. Among his first projects was a complex on Congress Street where he developed the FP3 condos.

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Boston Seaport gets another restaurant invasion